radplot
Sections
NAME
radplot - Radar plotting (RCM, MDR, NIDS, Level 2, WSI mosaic, Kavouras mosaic, Unisys mosaic, WXP mosaic)
SYNOPSIS
radplot [parameters...] filename
PARAMETERS
| Command Line | Resource | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| -h | help | No | Lists basic help information. |
| -df=filename | default | wxp.cfg | Sets the name of the resource file. |
| -na=name | name | the program name | Specifies the name used in resource file parsing. |
| -me=level | message | out2 | Specifies level of messages to be displayed |
| -fp=path | file_path | the current directory | Specifies location of database files. |
| -dp=path | data_path | the current directory | Specifies the location of the input raw data files. |
| -cp=path | con_path | the current directory | Specifies location of decoded/converted data files |
| -ip=path | image_path | the current directory | Specifies location of output image files (.gif/,png) from WXP. |
| -nc=name_conv | name_conv | name.cnv or name_conv file | This sets which name convention file to use. |
| -in=input | input | rcm | Specifies the input file type. The default is mdr. Possible values are:
|
| -if=in_file | in_file | program specific | Specifies the input file name tag. |
| -of=out_file | out_file | program specific | Specifies the output file name tag. |
| -cf=filename | city_file | rad.cty | Specifies the name of the city database file |
| -mf=filename... | map_file | wxp.map | Specifies the name of the map database file. Multiple maps can be specified along with attributes to describe how to draw the map. |
| -cu=[hour] | current | none | This specifies to use current data files. |
| -ho=hour | hour | none | Specifies the exact hour that a data file is valid for. |
| -nh=hours[,skip] | num_hour | Value Generally 0 | Specifies the number of hours worth of data to use in the program |
| -id=ident[,ident...] | identifier | None | Specifies a station identifier to plot or parse for |
| -pd=domain | plot_domain | program dependent, mostly "us" | Sets the plotting domain |
| -va=variable | variable | none | Sets the parameter/variable to be displayed |
| -sc=type | plot_scale | 1.0 | Specifies a scaling factor for all plotted text, symbols, vectors, etc. |
| -fm=format | format | None | Specifies the output format of data. |
| -pa=param[,param...] | parameter | none | Specifies addition parameters to program. |
| -dr=value[,value...] | draw | all | Specifies which part of the plot is to be drawn. |
| -la=type | label | Program defaults | Specifies the labels to be plotted around the plot. By default, labels are generated by the program and plotted above and below the plot. This resource overrides these labels. |
| -fl=font_file[,font_file...] | font_list | modern.fnt | Specifies a list of fonts to use in the plots. |
| -ct=color_table | color_table | wxp.clr | Specifies the color table to use in the plot. This maps color names to actual RGB color values. |
| -col=color[:attribute...] | color_label | white (black on inverse plots) | Specifies the text color for labels above and below the plot. |
| -cod=color[:attribute...] | color_data | green (for most programs) | Specifies the color for plotted data. |
| -com=color[:attribute...] | color_map | red (for most programs) | Specifies the color for background maps. |
| -coll=color[:attribute...] | color_latlon | magenta:st=dsh | Specifies the color for lat/lon lines. |
| -cof=[value:]color[:attribute...],[value:]color[:attribute...],... -cof=filename |
color_fill | magenta, lmagenta, blue, lblue, cyan, lcyan, green, lgreen, brown, yellow, red, lred, dgray, lgray, white | Specifies the colors in the color fill contours. |
| -de=device[,parameters] | device | d for display | Specifies the output device. |
| -ti=title | title | The name of the program or the value of the name resource | Specifies the window title. |
| -ic | icon | off | Specifies whether to open window in iconified mode. |
| -bg=color | background | black | Specifies the background color of the window. |
| -ge=widthxheight[+x+y] | geometry | 640x512 (for windowed plots) | Specifies the window and paper geometry. |
| filename (positional) | filename | none | Specify input filename |
DESCRIPTION
This program plots various types of radar data. Each type will be discussed below:
MDR (Manually Digitized Radar)
MDR data is broadcast once an hour (around 30 after) and is a low resolution radar composite for the contiguous US. The input to rad is a converted data file produced by the radcvt program. Then, based on a plot domain and a variable selected by the user, a plot is generated. Overlay plots, contour plots and loops can also be generated if the appropriate options are set.
The programs starts off by prompting the user for input converted file name. The user may specify the input file either via the command line of through the current resource. The input naming convention is specified by the rad_cvt tag but this can be changed with the in_file resource. To generate a loop, the num_hour resource can be specified. This will tell the program to loop through this number of hours.
Next, the program prompts the user for the plot domain. This is done through a region menu which has predefined regions available. If needed a full plot domain can be specified to get a precise domain. The domain can be interactively changed using the mouse once the plot has been generated.
After the region has been set, the city database is read in and a cross-reference table is setup. Since converted data is not saved with location information, the program will refer to this table to location each station in the input file.
The program will now prompt the user for the particular output variable to plot. The program will show a menu of commonly used variables but many more are defined internally by the program and in the rad.var file. The internal variables are:
| Variable | Description and units | Plots |
| city | All stations in the data file | text |
| stat | Radar status: NA, NE, OM | text |
| pr_typ | Precipitation type and intensity (eg RW-) Intensity is based on max radar intensity: 1=-, 2= ,3=+,4=++,5=x,6=xx |
text |
| pr_tnd | Precipitation trend: +=increase, -=decrease, NC=no change, NEW=new | text |
| pr_tt | Precipitation type and trend (type and single char for trend): /=increase,\=decrease,-=no change, *=new | text |
| echtop | Echo tops (100 ft). Top positioned at location. If top has a star "*", no location is available and top positioned over station. | text |
| pr_amv | Area movement, direction and speed (knt) | value0=dir, value1=spd |
| pr_cmv | Cell movement, direction and speed (knt) | value0=dir, value1=spd |
| watch | Watch boxes (severe and tornado) |
These parameters can be accessed by name if they have not been redefined in the rad.var file. Otherwise, prepending a "+" to the variable name will guarantee these variables will appear.
There are several derived variables from this list which are defined in the rad.var file. These include composite plots, overlay plots and computed grids.
| Variable | Description |
| all | All data, a composite plot of status, type and trend, area movement (vector), cell movement (barb), echo tops, and watches |
| sum | Only radar status. Useful for just plotting radar summary. |
The program will now open the graphics window and start processing the data. The user will be prompted for the output device. Then the converted file is opened and data read in and radar summary plotted. The summary is plotted with the following color scheme. The scheme can be changed using the color_fill resource.
| Intensity | DBz | Color | Precip Intensity | Approx.Rainfall Rate (inches/hour) | |
| Stratiform | Convective | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20-30 | Blue/DGreen | "-" -- Light |
0.0 to 0.1 |
0.0 to 0.2 |
| 2 | 30-40 | Cyan/Green | "" -- Moderate |
0.1 to 0.5 |
0.2 to 1.1 |
| 3 | 40-45 | Green/LGreen | "+" -- Heavy |
0.5 to 1.0 |
1.1 to 2.2 |
| 4 | 45-50 | Yellow/Yellow | "++" -- Very Heavy |
2.2 to 4.5 |
|
| 5 | 50-55 | Red/Orange | "x" -- Intense |
4.5 to 7.1 |
|
| 6 | >55 | Magenta/Red | "xx" -- Extreme |
> 7.1 |
|
The background map will plot and then any overlay data. Composite plots can either be specified with the variable resource (.var file, resource file, command line or variable prompt). The variable resource allows the user to control much of the data formatting.
When the plot is complete, output can be saved to a GIF image file, spooled to the printer or the plot can be zoomed. When zooming the image, the plot will redraw to the new domain. It will also add more stations to the plot depending on the size of the domain. When the user is finished with the plot, the enter key can be hit which closes the window and returns the user to the variable prompt.
INTERPRETIVE NOTE: When determining the intensity of precipitation within a MDR radar grid box, the maximum intensity within the box is the intensity reported. Therefore, precipitation coverage is often overestimated, especially in cases of convective precipitation. Also, since most stratiform precipitation occurs below 10,000 feet, radars may not fully report large areas of stratiform rain and especially snow.
Watch Box Data
The watch box is determined based on the coordinates of two stations. These coordinates or station locations are looked up in the sao_all.cty file. This file contains some common station coordinates that are used in watch box location but may not report surface data. At times, the stations are not in the database file and the watch box will not plot. You can add stations to the sao_all.cty file if needed.
Second, the watch box is associated with a valid time range. The box will only be plotted if the radar summary is within the valid time. This is NOT determined by the current time.
The box is plotted along with two lines of text. For example:
S716
to 3Z
The first line gives the watch type: S for severe thunderstorm or T for tornado. The number represents the watch number which can be cross referenced to the watch data. Watch data is printed as such:
Date: 2235Z 27 AUG 97
WATCH_decode_file: file not found: /rainbow/data/ddplus/12082797.wws
Reading watch file: /rainbow/data/ddplus/18082797.wws
Watch: 716 SEVERE : VALID
Watch: 716 SEVERE : VALID
If the message level is out3, the following information is printed:
Reading watch file: /rainbow/data/ddplus/18082797.wws
Watch: 716 SEVERE : Beg: 97/08/27 21:00 End: 97/08/28 03:00 VALID
Width:60 NORTH Location: 35W GGW to 95E ISN
Aviation location: 30W GGW to 12WSW MOT
Watch: 716 SEVERE : Beg: 97/08/27 21:00 End: 97/08/28 03:00 VALID
Width:60 NORTH Location: 35W GGW to 95E ISN
Aviation location: 30W GGW to 12WSW MOT
This will display beginning and ending times as well as location information so the user can plot the data by hand. The width is in nautical miles and the direction is either EAST for east-west of a line, NORTH for north-south of a line, or EITHER for either side of a line.
RCM Radar Summary Display
RCM (Radar Coded Messages) are similar to the MDR reports. RCM data is on a grid 1/4th the size of the MDR grid or roughly 12km resolution. RCM summaries are generated from the individual site RCMs using the radcvt program and placed in a WXP radar converted file. The program determines the type of converted file from the contents. If the converted data is MDR data, MDR plotting procedures will be used. If the converted file is RCM data, then RCM plotting will occur. The radcvt program will save the RCM data with the file tag rcm_cvt. Using rcm for the input resource will make this the default tag. The procedure for running the program is nearly identical to the MDR procedure. RCM summaries use the same echo range (1 to 6) as does MDR. The radar summary plot may be annotated with various pieces of information such as storm ID, echo tops, movement, hail, TVS (Tornado Vortex Signatures), mesocyclone location, and severe weather watch boxes:
| Variable | Description and units | Plots |
| city | Site name | text |
| stat | Site status | text=NA,NE,OM |
| mode | Site mode (Precip,Clear Air) | text=P,C |
| maxtop | Site maximum tops (100ft) | value |
| tvs | Tornado Vortex Signature (TVS) | value=1, text=TVS |
| meso | Mesocyclone | value=1,text=MESO |
| id | Storm ID | text |
| top | Echo tops in 100s ft | value |
| spd | Speed of movement in knots | value |
| hail | Hail (0=none,1=prob, 2=likely) | value=hail, hail=2, text=*, hail=1, text=+ |
| mvmt | Direction and speed of movement | value0=dir, value1=spd |
RCM Site Radar
This program will display RCM single site data. When the input resource is set to rcmsite , the rad program will read the raw RCM data and plot the RCM data for a specific site. The program will prompt the user for the site ID, if it is not specified in the identifier resource. The domain is based on the radar site. If the user specifies a domain, the data will be remapped to the new domain. The site data can be annotated with storm attribute information if the variable resource is set to comp. The data plotted are:
| Type | Description |
| Red triangle | Tornado Vortex Signature (TVS) |
| Yellow circle | Mesocyclone |
| Green * | Hail likely |
| Green x | Hail possible |
| Wind barb | Cell movement |
| Text UL | Storm ID |
| Text UR | Echo tops |
Radar Mosaics (NOWRad and Unisys)
Radar Mosaics are high resolution (2, 4, and 8 km) national composites of all Nexrad sites. NOWRad data is developed by WSI and comes in two forms: 2km resolution data on a latitude longitude grid (MASTER sector) and 8km resolution on a lambert conformal grid (US sector) both based on base reflectivity. The input resource is set to nowrad to tell rad that the input data is NOWRad. These are put into files defined by the nowrad and nowrad_us file name tags.
The Unisys mosaics are on a lambert conformal grid, in various resolutions and include base reflectivity, echo tops and precipitation. These are in the same format as the composite reflectivity NIDS data so the nids file tag is used.
The program will prompt the user for the input file name. This can be entered via the command line or using the current resource. To generate a loop, the num_hour resource can be specified. This will tell the program to loop through this number of hours.
Once the file is determined, the user will be prompted for the device and plotting will begin. The color scheme is listed below. The last two schemes require the radar.clr color table.
| dbZ range | Default Color | nowrad.cfl | nowrad_std.cfl |
| <5 | off | off | off |
| 5-10 | blue | DDGreen | XGreen |
| 10-15 | lblue | DGreen | BXGreen |
| 15-20 | cyan | DMGreen | BGreen |
| 20-25 | lcyan | MGreen | MBGreen |
| 25-30 | green | MBGreen | MGreen |
| 30-35 | lgreen | BGreen | DMGreen |
| 35-40 | brown | BXGreen | DGreen |
| 40-45 | yellow | XGreen | DDGreen |
| 45-50 | red | Yellow | Yellow |
| 50-55 | lred | Orange | Orange |
| 55-60 | magenta | XRed | XRed |
| 60-65 | lmagenta | BRed | BRed |
| 65-70 | dgray | MRed | MRed |
| 70-75 | lgray | ||
| 75-80 | white |
NOTE: The 2 km sectors sector plots are high resolution and often take a long time to plot. Smaller regions will plot faster since echoes outside the domain do not plot. For large regional plots, it is recommended to use the lower resolution (4, 8 km) mosaics.
NIDS Data
The NIDS data feed contains many types of images from each WSR-88D radar. The images are for a single radar site and include the following:
| Name | Description | Type |
| bref1 | Base reflectivity, level 1 | radial |
| bref2 | Base reflectivity, level 2 | radial |
| bref3 | Base reflectivity, level 3 | radial |
| bref4 | Base reflectivity, level 4 | radial |
| lref1 | Layer reflectivity, level 1 | rastor |
| lref2 | Layer reflectivity, level 2 | rastor |
| lref3 | Layer reflectivity, level 3 | rastor |
| cref | Composite reflectivity, level 1 | rastor, with text |
| vel1 | Base velocity, level 1 | radial |
| vel2 | Base velocity, level 2 | radial |
| vel3 | Base velocity, level 3 | radial |
| vel4 | Base velocity, level 4 | radial |
| srmv1 | Storm relative mean velocity, level 1 | radial |
| srmv2 | Storm relative mean velocity, level 2 | radial |
| tops | Echo tops | rastor |
| vil | Vertical integrated liquid | rastor |
| pre1 | 1 hour precipitation total | rastor |
| pret | Storm total precipitation | rastor |
| prea | Digital precipitation array | rastor, 1/40th LFM grid |
| vad | Vertical azimuth display | winds aloft time cross section |
To access these files, it is recommended to use the above names as file name extensions such as 9707241255.bref1. Then allot the name convention to use a extension (%e) and use nids_bref1 for the input file type. The input resource must be set to nids in order for rad to know that the data are in NIDS format.
After the file type is determined, the program will prompt for the input file name. This can be entered via the command line or using the current resource. To generate a loop, the num_hour resource can be specified. This will tell the program to loop through this number of hours.
The program will then display the image and overlay a map. If no plot domain is specified, the image is plotted in a polar stereographic projection sized so the image fits the window. A plot domain can be specified to remap the image for overlay. The remap will only work with polar stereographic and lat/lon projections.
The default image colors are dependent on the image type:
- bref, cref, lref, tops, vil, pre - uses a standard set of colors but the cutoffs are based on the threshold values in the NIDS file. The colors are "off, blue, lblue, cyan, lcyan, green, lgreen, brown, yellow, red, lred, magenta, lmagenta, dgray, lgray, white".
- vad - the wind barbs are color coded base on RMS of the variability of winds over the reporting period. These values range from 0-16 in intervals of 4. The colors are "lblue, lcyan, lgreen, yellow, lred".
- vel - uses a preset color scheme for consistency between plots. The color scheme is: "-70:blue, -63:lblue, -49:cyan, -35:lcyan, -25:green, -19:lgreen, -9:dgray, 0:off, 1:lgray, 10:yellow, 20:brown, 26:lred, 36:red, 50:lmagenta, 64:magenta".
- srmv - uses a preset color scheme for consistency between plots. The color scheme is: "-50:lblue, -40:cyan, -30:lcyan, -22:green, -10:lgreen, -5:dgray, -1:off, 0:lgray, 5:yellow, 10:brown, 22:lred, 30:red, 40:lmagenta, 50:magenta".
This can be changed using the color_fill resource.
Storm Attributes Plotting
The composite reflectivity product contains the storm attributes table. By default, only the reflectivity plot is displayed. If the variable resource is specified, attributes will be plotted over the reflectivity. The possible variables are:
| Variable | Description and units | Plots | ||||||||||||||||
| id | Storm ID | text | ||||||||||||||||
| tvs | Tornado Vortex Signature (TVS) | value=1, text=TVS | ||||||||||||||||
| meso | Mesocyclone | value=1,text=MESO | ||||||||||||||||
| posh | Probability of severe hail. | value=prob, prob>75, text=*, prob>50, text=X |
||||||||||||||||
| poh | Probability of hail. | same as posh | ||||||||||||||||
| hsize | Hail size in inches | value | ||||||||||||||||
| dbzm | Maximum Dbz value | value | ||||||||||||||||
| dbzht | Height of max. Dbz | value | ||||||||||||||||
| top | Echo tops in 100s ft | value | ||||||||||||||||
| dir | Direction of movement | value | ||||||||||||||||
| spd | Speed of movement in knots | value | ||||||||||||||||
| mvmt | Direction and speed of movement | value0=dir, value1=spd | ||||||||||||||||
| comp |
|
These parameters can be accessed by name if they have not been redefined in the nids.var file.
RRWDS Data
Remote Radar Weather Display System (RRWDS) radar site displays can be handled by specifying rrwds for the input resource. The radar can be remapped for overlay purposes.
EXAMPLES
rad -cu=la -re=mw -va=all -de=d
This plots a radar summary overlaid with a composite of MDR data including watch boxes.
rad -if=nowrad -cu=la -re=40,-90,.4
-mf=fi:map_cnty -de=d
This will plot the latest NOWRad MASTER sector for a location in Illinois and overlay it with a county map.
rad -if=nids_bref1 -cu=la -de=d
This will plot the latest BREF1 NIDS image. The file name convention uses the "bref1" as the extension (%e) in naming the file.
rad -if=nids_cref -cu=la -de=d -va=comp
This will plot the latest composite reflectivity image overlaid with the composite storm attributes.
FILES
- rad.cty - the radar location database file
- rad.var - the variable menu and definitions for MDR display
- nids.var - the variable menu and definitions for NIDS storm attributes
SEE ALSO
Last updated November 2013